


Housewarming

by charleybradburies



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Canon Disabled Character, Community: 1_million_words, Dresses, Episode: s01e08 Valediction, F/M, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Fix-It of Sorts, Friends to Lovers, Nervousness, POV Female Character, Phone Calls & Telephones, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 23:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3465620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleybradburies/pseuds/charleybradburies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She really hadn't meant to decline so abruptly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Housewarming

It was just a phone call. There was no reason to be frightened of a phone call. _He_ was the one who had asked for the drink, anyway. _She’d_ been the one to stumble over her words. She’d have left work feeling more relieved if he’d known who she was with. He probably thought she was just too nice to properly turn him down. 

At least she knew that he was too nice to hang up on her immediately. She’d at least get a word in, right?

_Calm down, Peggy. Just…take a breath and dial the number._

“Hello?”

“Hello? Daniel?”

“Oh, Peggy. Hi.”

He doesn’t sound unhappy, but he doesn’t sound ecstatic to hear from her, either. 

“Um, about that drink-"

“Look, it’s fine-"

“You don’t even know what I was about to say!” 

Her voice comes out more desperate than she’d hoped, and she winces, then gulps, then nervously pulls a few strands of hair back behind her ear. She sits up straighter on the edge of her bed. Daniel doesn’t say anything.

“I didn’t respond properly. I shouldn’t have just - I suppose I felt…protective of my surprise for my friend.”

“Surprise?”

He sounds relieved - and he’s not the only one to feel so. 

“Howard offered to allow me and my best friend Angie to take up residence at his home, since I’ve no accommodations and she’s - well, she hasn’t been particularly inconvenienced, but she is a dear friend of mine, and I owe her a good deal. I arranged to go with Jarvis to take her to see the house tonight.”

“What’d she think?” he asks, and she can tell that he’s avoiding the question that’s actually pressing.

“She loves it,” Peggy chuckles. “She’s having a ball. Although, she spent over half an hour earlier trying to explain to her mother that she isn’t in bed with Howard.”

“I imagine it’d be hard for any woman to convince someone of that.”

“You would know, considering you thought the same of me.”

Her voice comes out harsher than she means for it to, and as she chides herself for it, she hears Daniel sigh.

“That’s true,” he concedes. “But I hope you didn’t call just to chew me out for it.”

Peggy laughs a little, mostly from relief.

“No, no, that - that was far from my mind when I decided to call you.”

 _No reason to be frightened._ Besides, even as foolish as it seemed, she could plead exhaustion or something of the sort and tell Jack she wouldn’t be able to make it in to work tomorrow, right? If he declined - or worse, refused?

“Actually, I - Angie were talking and - we’re thinking it might be nice to - to have some people over. You know, sort of a housewarming party. Well, not a party, really, just a nice dinner. But I - I was wondering if you’d like to come over. Not - not in place of that drink, of course. We’ll, um, have to decide on a day next week to go out, but you know, just, to at least see the place?”

There's a momentary pause, and she presses her eyes closed in hope until he replies.

“Should I bring white or red?”

She turns her head towards the ceiling, a shadow of a prayer of gratitude in her momentary upward gaze.

“Perhaps neither. I don’t know yet what Howard will decide to bring. I don’t think him above purchasing half a store, even though there’s quite a bit of wine here in the first place.”

Both she and Daniel laugh.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow if you should bring anything, when I give you the address.”

“Sounds good, Peggy. I’ll - oh, damn.”

“What?”

“I’ve just remembered that my parents are coming to town on Tuesday. They won’t be staying at my place, but they’ll be in the city for at least a week or two. We’d have to get a drink on Monday, or it won’t happen next week.”

“Monday - Monday sounds fine.”

“Great! It’s a date. Or-"

“I do believe that qualifies as a date, yes?”

“Only if you want it to. I mean, friends go out for-"

“I want it to.”

He doesn’t answer for a moment, and her anxiety wells within her again.

“Then it’s a date,” he says, and the fact that he sounds like he’s just barely stopping himself from shouting as though the Yankees had just won the World Series makes her heart skip a number of beats.

“Fantastic!”

She hears the front door slam closed. 

“Wow!” comes Angie’s near-deafening exclamation, and Peggy chuckles to herself.

“Angie’s just returned from her exploration of the property. I ought to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, Daniel,” she says brightly.

“See you tomorrow, Peggy.”

Though she’d planned to go meet Angie by the door, she stays where she is, sitting on her bed with her hand on the phone receiver, trying to stay her excitement. 

“So, English? What’d he say?” Angie’s voice is almost as excited as she feels, bringing with it the girl who dashes over to Peggy’s bed and jumps up onto it before Peggy has a chance to even turn around. 

Peggy rolls her eyes affectionately, and smiles.

“He’ll be coming.”

“Great! So, what are you wearing?”

Angie pops off the bed and speeds over to Peggy’s wardrobe, hastily jerking dresses out of it and tossing them to the bed. 

“I _just_ put those in there, Angie,” Peggy whines in a weak protest.

“I’ll put ‘em back. Your boyfriend is more important than tidiness right now.”

"He's _not_ my boyfriend, Angie."

"Well, he's gonna be," Angie says, moving away from the wardrobe a couple of feet to send Peggy a stern look.

"You want him to be, and he wants to be, so I'm _gonna_ make it happen. Now come 'ere."

Peggy pushes herself up from the bed and walks over to Angie.

"Well, you're not _wrong,"_ she admits, wiping her sweaty hands on the dress she's currently wearing.

"Obviously! I'm your best friend," Angie says seriously, and holds a shimmering blue dress up to Peggy's person, then shoves the hanger into her face.

"Put it on, English," she orders, a hint of coyness in her voice. Peggy doesn't refuse. The dress doesn't fit quite as well as it had during the mission she'd worn it on, but it doesn't look _bad._

"Not bad", though, is of course not good enough for Angie, and she flicks her wrist towards Peggy's bed and tells her to try another on.


End file.
